AMD brings Radeon Image Sharpening to select Radeon RX 500 and RX 400 series GPUs

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Several budget-friendly GPUs from AMD now support image sharpening.

What you need to know

  • Image Sharpening is now available on the Radeon RX 570, RX 580, RX 590, RX 470, and RX 480 graphics cards.
  • The feature improves clarity and crispness of gameplay without having a large hit on performance.
  • The feature works with the latest Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition driver.

RIS aims to deliver better-looking gameplay without having a noticeable negative effect on gameplay performance. The feature coming to more budget-friendly cards means that gamers can get better-looking games without having to break the bank.

RIS improves gameplay visuals by adding clarity and crispness to areas of games that have been softened by post-process effects.

RIS is an intelligent contrast-adaptive sharpening algorithm that brings crispness and clarity to in-game visuals that have been softened by other post-process effects, with virtually no impact on gaming performance. When paired with Radeon GPU upscaling, RIS enables sharp visuals and fluid frame rates on very high-resolution displays.

RIS works with the latest Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition driver, which can be downloaded from AMD's website. The feature works across DirectX 12 and Vulkan titles on the newly supported cards, meaning developers do not need to implement RIS support into games. Be sure to have a look at our best graphics card picks to see where these GPUs stack up.

Sean Endicott
Sean Endicott
News Writer and apps editor

Sean Endicott is a news writer and apps editor for Windows Central with 11+ years of experience. A Nottingham Trent journalism graduate, Sean has covered the industry’s arc from the Lumia era to the launch of Windows 11 and generative AI. Having started at Thrifter, he uses his expertise in price tracking to help readers find genuine hardware value.

Beyond tech news, Sean is a UK sports media pioneer. In 2017, he became one of the first to stream via smartphone and is an expert in AP Capture systems. A tech-forward coach, he was named 2024 BAFA Youth Coach of the Year. He is focused on using technology—from AI to Clipchamp—to gain a practical edge.